ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries October 1987 / 539 Book Express: Meaningful access B y E velyn G reen b erg Assistant University Librarian fo r Public Services Rutgers University W hy is it th a t w hat you need is always some­ w here else? Time is precious, and spending it in transit to “somewhere” else is frustrating. Such is the problem of Rutgers University students and faculty in relation to library materials. Book Ex­ press was our solution. The Rutgers University Libraries are 18 libraries on three campuses. The largest concentration of li­ braries and students is in New Brunswick w here four parts of the University are separated from each other by a river and/or a dow ntow n area. New Brunswick is about 25 miles from the Newark campus and 60 miles from the C am den campus. The University operates a free bus service to tra n s p o rt stu d en ts, facu lty , e tc ., a ro u n d New Brunswick. The University also m aintains trucks for “ cam pus m a il” betw een N ew ark an d New Brunswick and between New Brunswick and C am ­ den. The libraries run a delivery van am ong the New Brunswick libraries. It carries m ail, newly processed books, books returned at one library and going back to another, etc. Until 1985 most of the lending am ong the li­ braries was for m aterial needed for Reserve. P a­ trons w ithin New Brunswick were encouraged to travel to any other library. If they asked for the m a­ terial to be sent, service was slow. In late fall 1984, because of unexpected generos­ ity on the p a rt of the state of New Jersey, the Uni­ versity had surplus tuition money and each division was asked for plans to use the money to benefit stu­ dent life. The University Libraries had been con­ sidering solutions to the access problem in New Brunswick for some tim e and now the prospect of funds to make it a reality galvanized thought. The plan had to be simple, do-able, well adver­ tised, and reasonably priced. Traffic on the New Brunswick campuses during the day w ould make any delivery slow. Therefore a scheme for Delivery After D ark, “Let DAD do it!” , was first devised. The nam e was eventually changed to Book Ex­ press. After discussions, brain storm ing sessions, etc., from m any librarians and staff, Book Express was proposed and accepted by University A dm inistra­ tion for an approxim ately $20,000 annual price tag. A few hundred dollars was spent on supplies, b u t th e cost of a full-tim e staff m em ber (about $15,000 w ith fringes) and hourly staff used most of the money. The cost of the use of the library van at night was borne by the libraries. The tw enty-four hour delivery service operates venings (5:30 p .m .– 11:00 p.m .) Sunday through riday and provides books from the four m ajor li­ raries in New Brunswick: Alexander L ibrary, L i­ rary of Science and Medicine, Kilmer Library, and Douglass. The libraries in Newark (D ana L i­ rary) and C am den (Cam den Arts and Sciences) benefit since requests for books located at the four ew Brunswick libraries no longer require a tele­ hone call bu t are searched and taken to the in ter­ ampus pick-up site six days a week. This improves ervice to these libraries by at least three days. Book xpress is som ewhat reduced during Summer Ses­ ion, Intersessions and Holidays, but does function ear round. Large, heavy duty canvas sacks were purchased or transporting the books from the van to the li­ brary, since loading dock areas and hand trucks are not feasible. The service starts at the Alexander L i­ rary w here the van is parked and w here the New­ ark and C am den requests are picked up. Alexander L ib rary requests are picked up first and, along ith those from C am den and Newark, sorted ac­ ording to the library they are in. Then the route tarts. Two complete circuits of the libraries are ade so th a t all requests and answers can be com­ leted. The patron fills out a simple form and places it in an IN box at any of the participating libraries. The orm instructs the user to check an IRIS (online cir­ ulation system) term inal first and to only request an item th a t is not charged out. No double checking f this form is done. W e assume th a t the user knows h a t he/she will not get m aterial th a t is charged out and therefore will not ask for it. Also lack of atten ­ ion to a proper call num ber, title, e tc ., will not get he patron the item and th a t will be the m otivation o do it right. Book Express staff charge available items to a a tro n called Book E x p re ss-L ib ra ry , th e “ L i­ rary ” being w here the patron will pick it up. After ook Express staff deliver the m aterial it is pu t on he hold shelf at the library. If an item is not found y the Book Express staff, an appropriate answer is hecked on the form. The form is p u t in the AN­ WER box and the patrons told to check th a t box y library staff if the requested m aterial is not on he hold shelf for th e m . L ibrary staff do not check he answers. If the patron w ants to pursue the rea­ e F b b b N p c s E s y f b w c s m p f c o t t t t p b B t b c S b t t 540 / C&RL News son for the non-delivery of a book, the Book Express form suggests consulting the library staff. Book Express has been a huge success. Even so, some people seem not to know about it, and our ef­ forts at publicity are continuing. The utilization of the service has meant a dram atic rise in resource sharing among the Rutgers libraries. In 1985/86, a total of 6,430 requests were filled and 10,494 in 1986/87. This represents a 62% rise in material handled. There was also a rise in the fill-rate from 70.61% to 72.46%. The success of the plan has led to one th at was more ambitious. We requested special funds from the University for Copy Express. This program piggy-backs on the Book Express delivery and has m uch m ore im pact on patrons in the sciences where the use of journal literature is dominant. Copy Express is also more expensive, includes two more libraries, and promises a three-day delivery time. ■ ■ Letters CD-ROM To the Editor: A few of the statements about video images in “ CD -ROM : A P rim e r,” by K aren A. Becker C& RL News, July/August 1987, were puzzling and possibly misleading. The “most economica format for recording still pictures” is laser optica reflective video disk, not digitally encoded video disk. It is certainly possible to encode digital data on video disk (as the National Agriculture Library did with the Pork Industry Handbook); it is also possible to digitize video signals. But the most com mon and economical approach for recording mo tion pictures, still pictures, or a mix of the two i still the basic video disk. The Library of Congress has made several type of optical disks, including a still picture video disk of selected collections in the Prints and Photo graphs Division, and it is often difficult for the non specialist to distinguish between the analog video disk an d d ig ita l sto rag e sy stem s.—H elena Zinkham, Optical Disk Cataloger, Prints and Pho­ tographs Division, Library o f Congress. , Online searches l To the Editor: l Please note that in her article, “Charging for On­ line Search Services in Academic Libraries,” M ar­ garet L. Breen misleadingly quotes from our study, “Report of the Study Group on Electronic Access to In fo rm atio n .” Breen states th a t “Such training ­ alone comes to an estimated $1,500 to $2,000 annu­ ­ ally per librarian.” The figure stated in our report s was an annual cost for all database searchers, not each of them. We wish we could afford such largess s in keeping our searchers current, but of course we cannot. Our study is available as ED254250 for ­ those w ho w ish m ore in f o r m a tio n .—Sandra ­ Leach, Database Searching Coordinator, Univer­ sity o f Tennessee, Knoxville. ■ ■ ACRL continuing education scholarships ACRL will offer two free–tuition scholarships for ACRL continuing education courses held prior to the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. The applicant must: 1. be a m em ber of ACRL by the application deadline (December 1, 1987). 2. hold a master’s degree in library science from a program accredited by ALA. 3. have at least three years experience in a library prior to the application deadline. 4. be currently employed in a library in a posi­ tion generally accepted as “professional,” as de­ fined by their institution. 5. have not previously been granted and utilized this scholarship. 6. have given evidence of professional growth as indicated by committee work, membership in pro­ fessional organizations, etc. 7. have the prerequisite background to benefit from the course selected. Awards will be made based upon: 1. evidence of commitment to librarianship as a profession. 2. potential benefit to the individual and the profession. 3. relevancy of the course requested to current position or clearly identified career track. 4. financial need. 5. service to ACRL, ALA, or the wider profes­ sion. For additional inform ation about these free scholarships contact ACRL, 50 E. Huron St., Chi­ cago, IL 60611. ■ ■